Moving Forward

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To cap off my last blog post of the semester, I wanted to start by saying I feel this class has influenced me both in terms of being a collaborator online and offline, as well as a general learner. I can say now after taking this class that I have much more of an appreciation for how the internet has shaped society, especially with respect to the many ways it can bring together others from afar in order to create something larger. As a learner, I feel as though I've grown in my ability to accumulate knowledge, and then share that knowledge with others in a way that is more accessible to the general public. Sometimes teaching others is the fastest way to learn something for yourself, and I feel as though these weekly blog posts have given me more confidence to contribute online, as well as learn from what others contribute in the same way. My favorite blog posts of the semester were probably:  "Don't Pretend To Know Open Source Until You Read This" and "Wiki Collaborators HATE This:". My best replies were on Ashley's blog: "November 10, 2017 at 5:49 PM" and Bria's blog: "September 22, 2017 at 4:24 PM".

I met a lot of people this semester, but without a doubt the two people who influenced me the most in this class were Ashley Dubrasich and Rachel Morisky. There was definitely some storming in our group at the start, but in the end I feel as though we managed to work well and perform in all of our group projects. I would also like to nominate Will Ellis for best blog, as I felt as though he crafted a thoughtful and well put together blog, that included many personal examples of how the writing topic related to him and his life experiences.

How Can News Be Real When Our Eyes Aren't Real

Fake News | by mikemacmarketing

Fake news or "bullshit" news has become more relevant in the previous year due to the recent election, which has essentially proven how effective news without regard for truth can be on our society. Through use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, it has become increasingly easy to produce content that appears to be a factual info article on the surface, but is actually not grounded in truth, and is used instead to gain views or promote a certain way of thinking. By creating a false  alternate reality that caters to an audience's confirmation bias, people can start to lose sight of what is really happening outside of their immediate sphere of experience. When this happens, our country's system of democracy weakens. Citizens in a democracy need to make conscious individual decisions about who and what they are voting for, and should strive to be as informed as possible before coming to any conclusions. When fake news is allowed to run rampant across the internet, it interferes with the public's ability to gather information correctly. In this way, people need to make an effort now more than ever to filter between what is credible information, and what is fake online.

If You Play League, You're Probably Toxic

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League of Legends is one of those super fun games that can suck you in and keep you addicted for long periods of time. As publisher of one of the most popular multiplayer games in the world, Riot Games has done an excellent job of growing and maintaining its user base. Unfortunately, the League community has gained a reputation as being one of the most toxic (ill-mannered) groups in gaming. One of the reasons for this includes having team centered gameplay, where if one player makes a mistake, the rest of the players on the team are affected. Many times the interaction between players on the team through in-game chat will turn negative, and players will verbally harass or "flame" one another for bad plays. The other reason for negative behavior is due to long game times, where players will have to invest 30 to 40 minutes of their time playing out each game. This makes early mistakes potentially devastating, as it sets the other team up for a lead which will likely result in a win farther down the line. Riot Games is attempting to fight back against this community-wide toxicity, through psychological studies and techniques such as the new honor system, and a player based banning system. Unfortunately it's hard to see the community changing too much from these changes because as long as the company keeps in-game chat enabled, people will always get upset about something and make sure to let everyone on their team know about it.

Group Projects Are The Best

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When it was announced to the class that we would have to present in groups for our first collaborative project, I began feeling excited at the prospect of engaging in group dynamics, as there is no better way to study how groups interact than to be part of one. As humans generally live in societies at this moment in time, it is crucial to learn how social dynamics work. However, I also felt that familiar anxiety, the one we all tend to feel when pushed out of our comfort zones. This feeling is the reason most people hate working in groups, as it forms when actively trying to reach out and communicate with others who are strangers to us. In an age where social media is dominating our interactions with others, and entertainment is a click away via smartphone, people have slowly but surely lost many of the social skills that are necessary for such a collaborative lifestyle. This is why I believe schools should teach social dynamics, as it is becoming more of problem in society, and also why I think group assignments are pushing us for the better. Years later, I will probably not remember the subject of the many presentations that were given in class this week, but I will remember the experience I had working in a group, and will definitely use that experience moving forward.

Originality is Overrated

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What constitutes originality? Is it the act of creating something unique, an idea that has never before been thought of in the the history of mankind? Or is it something that is just different enough from other content in existence that people can look and say, "Hey this guy's content is fresh!". In the context of music, especially pop, most "original" songs are actually very similar in structure and sound to one another. The whole reason why we can categorize pieces of music into various genres is because people have the capacity to pick out these familiar structures and patterns. The question is, how original does something like music have to be for someone to A) enjoy it, and B) not think to themselves immediately "What a rip off of (insert other song here)"? In the case of legality, copyrighting a piece of music involves owning the particular combination of notes used with respect to time, as well as the exact lyrics used in the song. Nobody can own the sound of a piano, or lay claim to the idea of writing a love song. Because of this, it can sometimes feel like modern music is centered around the same compelling topics, like sex, or getting high, rich, etc. These topics help a song to feel relatable and sell copies. Most people, however, don't really care whether or not a song sounds too similar to another one. They just care that it sounds good. In my opinion, I appreciate when an artist tries out something new and original, but I will always come back to the genres of music that I enjoy. Sometimes it's not about being first, but doing the most with what works.

Don't Pretend To Know Open Source Until You Read This

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The debate between open source and freedom of information, versus protecting intellectual property and what constitutes originality has been fought for ages now, and has only heated up in recent years where access to information has exploded. Personally, I want to believe that all of the code I write and content the I produce should be mine, and mine alone to sell and publish. This is true under copyright laws, where "original" content can be licensed such that no one else can publish the same piece of content. There is a discrepancy in what constitutes originality, however, as one only has to look as far as the Google Play store, or Apple App store to see that original content regularly gets copied and remixed into similar albeit slightly different entities. The counter argument to having all information protected as per the individual who incepts the content, is that a free and open flow of information and content will allow our society to grow much more quickly and learn faster with full freedom to shape the content as needed. Why reinvent the wheel, when there are many versions already available to be expanded upon and improved? Perhaps both sides of the argument have merit, but it will be up to society in the coming years to decide how free or closed information should be.

They Turned to Reddit for Help

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In class this week, we learned that Reddit is not only a powerful collaborative community, but one with the power to help those having suicidal thoughts or tendencies feel more connected to others in similar circumstances. Since Reddit is an online community, most of its members can remain anonymous to each other, and thus can feel more inclined to share feelings that would otherwise go unexpressed in real life. This advantage also comes with some disadvantages, one being that anonymity can bring in people with less than harmless intent. Trolls are those who have fun at the expense of others, and in a case where people are legitimately trying to get help for serious problems, trolls can be the last nail in the coffin. Luckily Reddit is not a complete anarchy, and usually has multiple active moderators per subreddit. Overall, turning to Reddit for help is definitely a positive, especially for those who have become ingrained in its community and feel no one else would be able to relate to them as well.